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Free Form Alterations

Trying my hand for the first time at free form altering of some clothing. I bought this tunic a couple of years ago because I fell in love with the fabric. The linen print is so simple and old fashioned. But, I have never worn it because overall it felt too frou frou and too big. I am no sewist. I stitch free form and raw, I dabble with making things but never clothing. Today was the day I overcame my fear and said “what have I got to lose”. The finish result is below and what I did to alter it follows.

This is where she started.

The first thing I did was to remove the apron ties and the ruffle.

It left her looking a bit forlorn, shabby and strings hanging.

I added two darts at the top and took out some of the dimension on the sides trying to make the curve as smooth as possible. It’s not perfect but alot more slimming than the original.

Finally I added 5 colorful buttons at the top slightly offset from the center. I like things off kilter, not perfect, wabi sabi.

Now that I have conquered my fear of alteration I’m going to try and make a tunic from a pattern that I am also altering. Onward and upward. What do you all think? Shall I hone my skills, or take my thread and go home?

Great idea and it’s worked out wonderfully. Love the little row of buttons.
Remember the old days when we had to follow a bought sewing pattern exactly?
It’s a lovely fabric too, I can see why you held on to it.

Are you kidding??? You gotta keep going! i love what you did — and those off-center buttons are too cool. have you seen that cool series of books on making cool clothes in a VERY simple way? I love looking at them but I don’t sew…….

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"Creativity does not come
with a set of instructions.
There is no fragile,
handle with care,
this end up, contents may
shift in transit.
Yet we are fragile,
a bag of bones
inside a permeable membrane
with a mass of gray matter
held inside a
thin, bony shell.
And we definitely do
shift in transit.
So what are we waiting for?"
Corrine Gilman